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Happy new year! The year 2012 was a banner year for Mr. Tsujii, our beloved Nobu. I will not repeat here key events that I summarized on this page: Happy 24, Mr. Nobuyuki Tsujii!, but below you will find some thoughts and wishes about the year past and the year ahead.
On September 13, Mr. Tsujii turned 24. Several comments on the web by people in Japan who saw him in concert or on TV mentioned a maturing Nobu:
今日のららら♪クラシックは辻井伸行さん。以前のコンサートでお見かけしたきより大人っぽくなりましたねー(*^ー^) Today, Mr. Nobuyuki Tsujii on the "classic" show. He has matured compared to when I saw him in previous concerts.
なんか辻井伸行さん垢抜けたな。ちょっとスリムになって大人っぽくなった Mr. Nobuyuki Tsujii has such pizazz. He has matured and become a little slim.
Personally, the most memorable Nobu event this year was my travel to England to see Nobu perform with Maestrao Ashkenzy in London and Bristol. Little did I know that the Prokofiev Piano Concerto 3 performed in London would not be recorded so that those of us who were fortunate enough to be in the Royal Festival Hall were the only witnesses of that spectacular debut. This YouTube video is the only remnant of that thrilling performance.
In Bristol, Nobu mesmerized the audience, including me, with Chopin's Piano Concerto 1 and Nocturne No. 8 -- infinitely more thrilling than even the superb recordings that I still listen to every day.
I recorded my experience here: Nobuyuki Tsujii in England, May 2012
Nobu will perform with Maestro Ashkenazy in 11 concerts in Japan during September 2013. See Nobuyuki Tsujii Upcoming Concerts 辻井伸行コンサート
In May, Nobu performed at the "White Nights" music festival in St. Petersburg, Russia, at the invitation of world-famous Russian conductor Valerie Gergiev. I entertained the notion of traveling to St. Pete, but was deterred by the laborious process of obtaining traveling documents and arrangements. As it turned out, the performances were outstanding, by all accounts. Nobuyuki Tsujii (Нобуюки Цудзи) in St. Petersburg, 2012
In September, there was an excellent TV documentary of Nobu's visit, "Nobuyuki Tsujii x Tchaikovsky", to be rebroadcast on Jan 13, 2013.
And, EuroArts Music promises to release a Blu-Ray of Nobu's performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Maestro Gergiev and the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra. here
Further good news, Nobu has been invited to reappear with the maestro and the orchestr in a concert in Turin, Italy in April. See Nobuyuki Tsujii Upcoming Concerts 辻井伸行コンサート
The second half of the year for Nobu was spent in his own country. There were several light summer concerts in scenic and cool-climate resorts. Then he launched into an ambitious 28-recitals 2012/13 Japan tour. Tickets for every stop sold out, some within minutes of their general release.
At the end of the year, Avex announced the addition of 8 more stops in the Tohoku region, which was devastated by the 2011 earthquake/tsunami, an area to which Nobu has made repeated visits to perform and to show support for the earthquake victims and reconstruction effort.
Billboard Japan Awards announced its winners on December 15, and Nobuyuki Tsujii was chosen as the classic artist of the year 優秀クラシックアーティスト
Albums released these years are (see Nobuyuki CDs and DVDs)
- AVEX Classics: "Return of the Hayabusa" movie music tracks; Mozart album, "Flowers Bloom" mini-CD, "Tribute to Jeanie" CD+DVD.
- EuroArts: Nobuyuki Tsujii Live at Carnegie Hall DVD
Nobuyuki Tsujii Live at Carnegie Hall was the DVD of the month reviewed in November issue of the UK's Gramophone Magazine.
Nobuyuki Tsujii (piano) Live at Carnegie Hall " is one of the recordings of the year 2012 chosen by reviewer Dan Morgan at MusicWeb International MusicWeb International
Looking ahead
Nothing is simple in life. Things are going great for Tsujii-san, especially in his own country. It would be hard for Nobu to top year 2012. But let's see what lies ahead.
Concerts
Nobu will spend some time in the first quarter of the year in North America, on a 2013 North America Tour which will take him to Canada (Winnipeg, Vancouver) and the U.S. (Fort Worth, Texas; Seattle, Washington; Fort Collins, Colorado; Allentown, Pennsylvania; Rockport, Maine; Athens, Georgia; Stuart, Florida). He will perform two concertos (Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 in Winnipeg; Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in Fort Worth and Seattle) and recitals (Debussy and Chopin - see program at bottom of this page ) at other stops.
I am disappointed the the only Europe concert that has been announced is a single performance in Turin, Italy on April 8, with Valerie Gergiev and the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra. I am hoping that there will be something for Nobu in Europe this summer or winter
After Italy in April, Nobu will be on a 12-stop concert tour with his long-time mentor Yutaka Sado and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, a re-group of their tour that was rudely interrupted by the 2011 earthquake. Nobu will perform Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 and Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2 on this tour.
Nobu himself seems very excited by an upcoming tour, again in Japan, with Maestro Vladimir Ashkenazy, to take place in September -
2013 Nobuyuki Tsujii ｘ Vladimir Ashkenazy ｘ OEK Japan Tour. Eight stops have been scheduled, with three more to be announced. What is exciting is that Nobu will perform something different: Grieg's Concerto and Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 (although these works are not new to Nobu, he performed them in Japan in the past.)
I admire Nobu's devotion to the earthquake relief effort, and I am deeply moved by the sustained support their Nobu enjoys from his countrymen, who continue to flock to his concerts and purchase his CDs/DVDs.
Even so, I do wish that Nobu would be seen outside Japan more. In particular, I really hope that at some point Maestro Ashkenazy would invite Nobu to perform with his Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and Maestro Valerie Gergiev would invite Nobu to perform in Europe/Asia. (Nobu is debuting in Singapore in June.)
Repertoire
Nobu himself has admitted that it is a challenge for him to learn new pieces while keeping up with his performances.
In 2013, Nobu will once again be working on expanding his repertoire, which is already quite impressive. It will be interesting to see what new works he will take on. In solo pieces, I wonder if he would take on learning the entire repertoire of Chopin's nocturnes? For concertos, some Nobu fans have wished for Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3. I still would like to see him perform Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 in Japan, although I sense that it is not a popular work there because it is not romantic.
CDs/DVDs
I look forward to the EuroArts Nobuyuki Tsujii at White Nights DVD; and I think we can look forward to an album released in 2013 that will include recordings of Debussy works of Nobu playing the pieces that he has been performing on his tours.
Original Compositions
Nobu's composing seems to have slowed down. In 2012, the only new work -- other than improvisations performed as encores -- is a short piece called "On a small pathway of Berlin ベルリンの小径にて. In interviews, Nobu said he would like to learn to compose large works such as sonata and concertos.
Whatever happens, I would be glad so long as Nobu remains happy and healthy. I hope to see him in performances very soon when he comes to America, and I am secretly hoping to see him perform somewhere else later in the year. We shall see.
Time waits for no one, the next Van Cliburn Piano Competition will take place in 2013. I hope Nobu will be remembered in Fort Forth.
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